At the moment I’m currently house hunting in Dublin.
Whenever I say it to people from outside the capital they all give me the same look. The ‘are you mad?’ look.
For various reasons my house searching has to be in Dublin and this has been my experience so far.
Last week I wrote an article on going through my mortgage application.
Afterwards, I received messages from other young people going through the same process asking about house hunting.
I’ve been viewing houses since last December and there are definitely some things I wish I’d known beforehand.
First off don’t get too excited by properties that you spot online.
There were several times I rang to view a house only to find out it was already sold.
There have also been times when the house was still available for viewing but the price had gone up a few thousand more than listed due to biddings.
This one might be more of a given as us Irish are a cynical bunch, but what you see might not be what you get.
Estate agents have got some mad camera skills and what looks like a mansion online often turns out to be the size of a doll’s house.
In one ‘three bedroom’ house I visited the third room was so small they didn’t even bother trying to put a bed in it because they knew it wouldn’t fit. It was less of a third bedroom and more of an enhanced wardrobe.
I will say when viewing a property don’t get caught up in the décor.
Some houses I viewed looked amazing on the first inspection. On taking a second look I found they were lacking in space, storage and a garden. What was selling me was how nicely it was decorated.
Don’t get caught up in the aesthetics, focus on things like insulation and if there’s central heating. In the same way, don’t be put off if a house has bad décor. You’re going to style it the way you want once you buy it anyway.
Prepare to be outbid and a lot of disappointment.
We got into bidding wars several times and sometimes you just have to bow out.
There have also been times we’ve put an offer in and never heard back from the estate agent or seller. Some sellers will hold out for as long as possible to see how many offers they can get.
If you have put in an offer and you feel like the seller is holding out or messing you around, put rules on your offer.
Say that your offer is only on the table for a set date and after that, you’re retracting it.
If they’re serious about selling it will cause them to act. If it does nothing they probably were never going to accept your offer and you’re better off looking elsewhere.
House hunting is stressful enough without getting messed about on top of it.
